SQUIRREL FAMILY 



179 



with whitish, tail below, brown or fulvous with black 

 tip. Young; Colors paler. 



Measurements. — Total length, 10.8 inches: tail 

 vertebrae, 3 inches: hind foot, 1.7 inches. 



Range. — Wyoming, Colorado and Utah in the Plains 

 region and up into foot hills. 



Food. — Grasses, seeds, grain and some insect food. 



Related Species 



Great Plains Ground Squirrel. — Citcllus clcgans 

 (Kennicott). The typical animal of the above descrip- 

 tion. Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. 



Richardson's Ground Squirrel. — Citcllus richard- 

 sonii (Sabine). About the same size as the Great 

 Plains Ground Squirrel, coloration yellower. From 

 Saskatchewan, latitude 55° N. south to South Dakota 

 and Montana. 



Townsend's Ground Squirrel. — Citcllus towiisciidii 

 (Bachman). Small: tail short, not very bushy; colors 

 dark. Nebraska westward to plains of Columbia river, 

 and from Wyoming and Utah to Montana, Idaho and 

 Oregon. 



Soft-haired Spermophile. — Citcllus mollis mollis 

 (Kennicott). Size very small: ears small: silvery gray 

 above: fur very soft. Utah and Nevada. 



Picket-pin " Gopher" — Citcllus armatus (Kennicott) 

 Body stout : ears large : tail short and moderately 

 bushy : pelage soft : color above dark gray and black : 

 length 10 inches. Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. 



Spotted Spermophile. — Citcllus spilosoina sfiilosoma 

 (Bennett). Size small: form slender; length 10 inches: 

 tail about 2.25 inches ; above, rusty brownish spotted 

 with ill-defined white spots. Southern California to 

 New Me.xico and Te.xas. 



Round-tailed Spermophile. — Citcllus tcicticaudus 

 (Baird). Size small; tail not bushy, and about four- 

 fifths length of head and body; grizzled grayish-brown 

 above ; beneath brownish-white ; length 10 inches. Cen- 

 tral California to southern Arizona. 



Franklin's Spermophile. — Citcllus franldinii (Sa- 

 bine). Similar in build to Thirteen-striped Ground 

 Squirrel, but lacking the stripes ; color grayish-brown. 

 From Saskatchewan south to Nebraska, Kansas and 

 Missouri, eastward to Indiana. 



By permission of the U. S. Biological Survey 



GROUND SQUIRRELS 



Points of difference between the Douglas and the California Spermophiles are shown 

 in the above drawing by E. T. Seton 



Spermophile is a word literally meaning " seed 

 lover," and has been given to a large group 

 of Burrowing or Ground Squirrels, as it most 

 nearly describes their chief characteristic. They 

 are indeed seed-lovers, as the farmers in the 

 West know to their sorrow ; for this small ani- 

 mal causes the annual loss of large crops through 

 destruction of the seed grain. 



The Spermophile is a Ground Squirrel wliich 

 in some of its species resembles the tree Squir- 



rel, on the one side, and the Chipmunk on the 

 other. Its burrowing traits ally it to the ]\Iar- 

 mot. It is frequently called a " Gopher " in the 

 Middle West, but this is a misnomer. The only 

 true Gophers in America are the Pocket Gophers, 

 described elsewhere. 



Ground Squirrels are found in the greatest 

 numbers on the great plains of the West. 

 Because of the scarcity of trees they have doubt- 

 less lost their tree-climbing propensities, and they 



